Fired DOJ Pardon Lawyer Sues Over Gibson Guns
Fired DOJ Pardon Lawyer Sues Over Gibson Guns
The News
Elizabeth Oyer, the Justice Department's former pardon attorney, sued the department Thursday, alleging she was fired in March 2025 hours after refusing to recommend restoring actor Mel Gibson's gun rights.
Oyer, who reviewed clemency requests for 13 years, says the termination violated federal civil service law, her due process rights, and her First Amendment right to political association.
Gibson lost his gun rights after a domestic violence conviction and had asked the attorney general to restore them.
Timeline
Before the dispute, Oyer's office vetted 95 people with old, nonviolent convictions for possible restoration of gun rights; the list was later cut to nine.
Oyer emailed her objections to including Gibson.
her termination papers arrived the same day she sent a follow-up memo declining to recommend Gibson, according to the complaint. The memo cited no misconduct and, the suit says, listed no reason permitted under federal law for removing a career senior executive.
Oyer filed her complaint in federal court.
Reactions
Oyer's suit argues the firing was void from the start because Pam Bondi, not Todd Blanche, was attorney general in March 2025 — and the department has itself argued in other litigation that a removal by a lower-ranking official is invalid from the outset.
Blanche has said he knew nothing about Gibson when he signed the termination memo, pointing instead to Oyer's recommendations for death-row commutations.
Oyer told senators at Blanche's confirmation hearing that the commutation explanation was the first she had ever heard of it.
The complaint quotes the department's own domestic violence guide, which states that firearm access raises the homicide risk in abusive relationships by 500%.
What's Next
Oyer is asking the court to declare the firing unlawful and restore her to federal service.
The case turns on two questions: whether the Gibson request was the real reason for her removal, and whether a deputy attorney general had legal authority to fire a career executive at all. Federal law requires 30 days' notice and a chance to respond before removing a career senior executive.
More
The dispute is one of the clearest tests yet of whether Justice Department career staff can be removed without the process Congress wrote into civil service law.
Sources: The Hill, The Independent, Raw Story.
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